The wacky misadventures of the SF->Google/south-bay bike commuter gang

Thursday, October 30, 2008

crash!

(by steve a.)

So I meant to write something up about Fridays ride or really crash. The ride was fantastic up to that point, 16 riders from Ritual and another 3 from Martha's. I think another rider got picked up along the road. Anyhow it was an amazing day with the sun rising once we were on the road tho I am sad to say the fixed gear ridership was very under represented.

Anyhow the carnage all happened on the final right turn on Haven Ave. in Menlo Park, just before the Bayfront Expressway/Marsh Rd. intersection. Andrew was in front, I was second and Yuko was third around the corner. Andrew was probably 1-2 bike lengths ahead of me, I think Yuko was right behind me and according to my GPS we were doing something like 19-20MPH. I had just grabbed my water out of the cage thinking it was my last chance to hydrate before the inevitable sprint on the bike path ahead. Right as I got the bottle to my lips I saw Andrew slide out. I tried to maneuver to the left around Andrew, unfortunately being a little bit off balance with the raised bottle and 1 hand on the bars I couldn't really do much. Andy's sliding bike and my wheel intersected and next thing I knew I felt my helmet slam the ground and I remember sliding to a stop. Then sometime in there was some more commotion and Yuko joined our mess. I think Michael and Eric rolled up right after that.

Everyone pulled over to the side of the road to assess injuries and Yuko pretty quickly figured out she was in bad shape.

End result is hopefully just sitting out a few days of riding, new helmet, new brake lever, new leg warmers, possibly a new seat and new rear wheel. BTW: if you have a Giro helmet crash replacements are available at a 30% discount from the manufacturer, I think they prefer it be less than a year old. I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I call.